Monday, April 22, 2013

EU politics: give us some money!

The saga of the AFD continues to entertain, with FAZ reporting that the new party is chronically short of money.

Actually, the party has collected at least €580,000 but the trouble with being a fully-fledged political party is that you need millions to fight a campaign. Bernd Lucke reckons that he needs to raise at least three million euros, and then he has to complete with the SPD and CDU, which have over €20 million each available to them.

The main sources of funding from the AFD are donations. However, large donations have not materialised and the highest sum so far contributed has been €5000. Thus, the party must bake small rolls, says FAZ.

In a way, I feel quietly vindicated when it comes to the Harrogate Agenda. One can see the attraction of going high profile and hoping the funding catches up, but the risk of failure is high. Better, I think, to set up the systems and the financial base first, and then to start building the campaign.